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SINGAPORE : Recommendations on how new media should be managed would be posted online for public feedback.
According to the Advisory Council on the Impact of New Media on Society, this will be done later this month on its new website. The council was appointed in March last year.
Whether it is using the Internet to campaign for the presidency or blogging to connect with people, using new media technologies to get a message across has become a norm. And it is no different for Singapore, as it prepares to change its rules governing materials like political films and podcasts.
Cheong Yip Seng, chairman of the Advisory Council on the Impact of New Media on Society, said: "Technology has changed rapidly. We know that social conditions in Singapore have changed and people want greater space for expression.
"So the (current) laws that govern political discourse online... are dated, and they need to be updated. So that's one part.
"The more problematic part is how do we, in the process of opening up, come up with some ways of reducing, minimising, if not cut it off completely, this abuse of this technology."
So the council is looking into minimising political abuse in the age of new media and how to better protect young people.
Two other significant areas in the council's report are how to encourage greater use of the new technology for public and government interactions, and providing legal protection to companies against defamation.
"If our proposals are accepted, I think it'll be quite a major step, in terms of opening up the space for political participation. We have spent an awful lot of time working on this. We are reasonably pleased with what we've done but we don't have a monopoly," said Cheong.
He added: "I hope the general public will step forward and robustly scrutinise what we are suggesting and find ways to help us improve on our ideas. This cannot be the final chapter of the saga. I think there would probably be a need to further review whatever changes that are made, a few years down the road."
Separately, Channel NewsAsia's current affairs programme "Insight" also spoke to politicians, social activists and analysts on "Politics in a Digital Age".
Among them is avid blogger Foreign Affairs Minister George Yeo, who is now on Facebook too.
Sharing his views on legislating cyberspace, the role of traditional media and what people want in an increasingly borderless environment, Mr Yeo said: "They want to know the (original) position, but they also may want to know the alternative views and the speculative positions.
"In Singapore, it's important that we maintain a direct line of communication between government and the people, and the traditional media plays a very important role in doing that."
You can catch more of the interviews on "Insight" on Channel NewsAsia at 8.30pm local time on August 21. - CNA /ls
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